Alain Bashung (born Alain Baschung 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. A multi-platinum artist, Bashung received three awards during the ceremony at the Paris Zenith, including best male artist, best album for "Bleu Pétrole" (Barclay/Universal) and best live show. He spent his career singing a pop-chanson repertoire. With 11 trophies won since 1993, he was the most awarded artist in the history of the Victoires de la Musique. Bashung, who had cancer, had to postpone several dates of his current tour. While receiving his award, he said he hoped that record companies would "remain in a human dimension by making people happy with records."

Bashung made rock music which worked in the French language, succeeding where many predecessors and contemporaries were content to offer pale imitations of Anglo-Saxon artists. He often did so while employing the best musicians from the UK and the US – for instance, he worked with the Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera and Wire's Colin Newman on Novice (1989), Adrian Utley of Portishead on Fantaisie Militaire (1998), and the Tom Waits collaborator Marc Ribot on Chatterton (1994), L'Imprudence (2002), and Bleu Pétrole (2008), the last of his 13 studio albums. In doing so, Bashung followed in the footsteps of Serge Gainsbourg, who often came to London and who used seasoned British artists to record Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971). Gainsbourg and Bashung teamed up for the latter's critically-acclaimed "cold wave" album, Play Blessures, in 1982.

Alain Bashung (born Alain Baschung 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. A multi-platinum artist, Bashung received three awards during the ceremony at the Paris Zenith, including best male artist, best album for "Bleu Pétrole" (Barclay/Universal) and best live show. He spent his career singing a pop-chanson repertoire. With 11 trophies won since 1993, he was the most awarded artist in the history of the Victoires de la Musique. Bashung, who had cancer, had to postpone several dates of his current tour. While receiving his award, he said he hoped that record companies would "remain in a human dimension by making people happy with records."

Somewhere between Gainsbourg, Scott Walker and Gene Vincent, Alain Bashung, who has died aged 61, was a French popstar with millions of fans.He worked a rare intelligence and profound poetry into his songwriting, over the years developing a style of phrasing which always put expressiveness first. Less ruled by the idea of absolute authorship than Gainsbourg, Bashung knew, throughout his career, how to find alter egos to expand his universe.

Alain Bashung (born 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Alain Bashung was the son of a Breton factory worker and an Algerian Kabyle father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Strasbourg to live with his new stepfather's parents. He spent his childhood in the countryside. A multi-platinum artist, Bashung received three awards during the ceremony at the Paris Zenith, including best male artist, best album for "Bleu Pétrole" (Barclay/Universal) and best live show. He spent his career singing a pop-chanson repertoire. more … Wikipedia > YouTube